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Bonnie & Gardening

Sun in the garden / lovely colours

We are in lockdown and well into week one of however many weeks this will be!!

Today is windy, cold and we have had hail, (others have had snow), but I will try to go out in the garden for half hour as the sun is out and I think it will be good to stretch my legs. I love doing word search but rarely do it so I’ll be trying to find my very old puzzle book…

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And so to Spring...

And so to Spring…

It’s been a while and I have have reasons why it’s been so long, many of them positive, but I feel it is time to restart. Before we begin just take a moment to open a window or if you can step outside, the birds will be chirping and you might see nature flowering. The world is still turning and we need to not lose sight of this.

Emily

So far 2020 has not been what you would call a normal…

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The Allotment

On the day I published the last blog I got a letter from the Allotment Committee. I knew it was coming, it was a photocopied Standard letter saying

I needed to tidy up my plot within 2 weeks of date of letter, so really a week and a half or you’re off. It gave me a figure of when the weeds are not an acceptable height and absolutely no contact email, name or telephone number. Marvellous – I cannot…

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What A Summer!

It’s been a while but it’s been a fantastic summer – the best news to report is my sister Lucy and her husband had a baby early in July and her name is Bonnie and she is gorgeous – with permission by her Mum I include a couple of pictures, she lives in Glasgow – so a little bit of a hike – but I have been up twice and I am looking forward to going again, in October. It was around 5 weeks in…

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Download

Wellies at the ready.. bag packed good hard shoes to walk in, then I remembered I needed to water the gherkins.

I texted Swampy saying ‘Give me 10 more minutes’. I’m so rock and roll!

So exciting, it has been four years since we last went. Download does not disappoint.

We arrived and then remembered how long it is until you get to the campsite. Really long. Armed with rucksacks and trolleys we…

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Chelsea.. at last!

I have been fortunate enough to go to many , many shows but this year is the first time I went to Chelsea. 20 years in the trade….

Being on the stand the first day I was getting my bearings…

The Exhibitor toilets were conveniently placed not far from us but you had to pass a ‘Gin Shed’.

One of the most popular places on site…

They had won a silver medal for their artisan garden. But the actual…

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It’s Eurovision - my review as I watched it!

It’s Eurovision – my review as I watched it!

Live from Lisbon, started with a couple of songs from Portugal, huge gold earrings on the first singer and an incredible apricot coloured glittery dress by the second.

Crowd very excited and loads of flags flying….

There are some UK and Irish fans amongst the mostly Portuguese and Spanish fans

The acts are all coming out with flags.. interesting to hear Denmark’s entry later, bookies favourite…

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Not long ago there was snow on the ground but in the last week we saw temperatures sore to 27C. I can certainly tell you one little cat could not cope and that was our Chester. I nipped home at lunch and he had obviously been in the sun for too long! After a frantic call into the vets I was reassured that he probably was just too hot and to keep an eye on him. They probably thought ‘not another neurotic pet owner’ but it didn’t come over that way – they were incredibly polite.

  Spot the cat..

  For a cat that can be quite daft, Chester found a cool area the next day, literally inside a parasol that was laying in the shade, not as daft as I think.

Currently working on having a more cat friendly garden, I am re planning part of the garden, I like to have as many areas as possible for Emily and Chester to climb on, shelter, feel cool and comfortable.

We have a cat house with 3 levels (they mostly like the top level) my potting table with an upturned tomato water reservoir – this we nickname ‘the cat hotel’. Emily spends most of her time jumping on to this, on to the greenhouse and up on to the garage – where she watches the world go by – she then likes to jump on James’ van and slides down the front windscreen!!

Cat hotel

Cat House (didnt use for months)

We have the greenhouse of course which I’m not too keen for them to be in in high temperatures but Emily uses it in late summer. I make sure that the door is fixed open when she does this. Then we have the bog garden which is shady.

  I wonder what is in here for me..

  The patio is a major hot spot, temperatures sore on here as the garden is south facing.

Chester loves the patio chairs especially with a towel or recently a pillow. We have a parasol that we put up so at least he has shade.

  This is more like it…

  The other part of the garden that is being re-worked has a smaller cooler patio and what I call my secret garden. It’s not secret but I like to call it that.

I have a basket of cat grass (which is so quick to grow it’s amazing). I have some of my favourite plants in this garden including Geum, Roses and Clematis. It’s a work in progress which will probably be many months.

So back to the other part of the garden, the star of the show is the Forsythia. This show stopper has brilliant yellow flowers that as this time of year is gorgeous. After the flowers have gone it is very green the rest of the year, this actually has been cut back the last two years but, yet again, this year it looks superb. The sparrows love it and Emily chatters to them from inside the patio doors. She has a distinct disadvantage as when she decides to go out of the cat flap after the birds (its a microchip one) it makes quite a bit of noise and much to her dismay the birds have flown.

  Technically not a garden shot, but I LOVE this image of Emily

  The bog garden is really James’ part of the garden. It’s really pretty with snakes head fritillary and some dianthus, a pink anemone really brightens up the corner and some other boggy plants. Either side of the bog garden is a multitude of primulas and primroses (they are on the move this year to the front garden) as I have too much Spring and need some Summer plants in the border for the continuation of colour. We also have the Spirea Bridal Veil and some lavenders. We lost an amazing cat two and a half years ago to the road. He was called Ollie and like our other two, he was one in a million. He is remembered here (as he is every single day) .

My work colleagues get to hear all about the cats antics, from bringing in a live mouse at 2.30am (Emily) or Chester nicking my pillow and pulling my hair with his teeth for attention to Chester playing with his green milk bottle tops or Emily sleeping on my feet for so long that I literally fall out of bed as my feet have gone numb.

So much so that we have a variety that has the name Emilie. A cucumber, now this variety has been in the range years but now it is mentioned in context with Emily ‘as named after the cat’. We have no varieties called Chester. Probably just as well.

With the introduction of this nice weather finally my seedlings appear to be growing, the peppers and tomatoes have been moved to the second stage and I have sown many flower varieties like Marigold, Cosmos, Poppies and Sweet peas plus others.

For the allotment I have started the sweetcorn Amaize – great name, great corn!  I’m looking at sowing courgettes  this week. I would like to grow the yellow ones as to me they taste better, Soleil or Easy Pick Gold should do the trick. I also need to start off the Runner Beans, I chose Aurora – the pink flowered variety.

So I am thinking of sowing tender crops now and I have only just put in carrots, beetroot, spring onions, lettuce, spinach etc. It is going to be that kind of year.. catch up and catch up again. Everything is going to happen at once whether I like it or not and whether I am ready or not…

I have a fruit part to the allotment where I have spent a couple of hours pulling out the long grass from around the roots of the raspberries and currents.

One lovely surprise when I got to the plot was my Dwarf Bramley Apple tree – it has been battered this winter by the wind and we are going to need to stake it again. However, look at all the blossom, (apologies for the picture it was wet and grey today)!

  Dwarf Bramley Apple Tree

  So I asked Alexa to play Erasure this morning instead she played Lone Ranger by Rachel Platten.

Good try Alexa. Never heard that before but unusually I let it play. It was better than I expected I know nothing about this track or the singer but I think I will listen to it again at some point.

We got to Erasure eventually. I loved this band growing up and to me the songs do not date and I’m as fond of the songs now than when they first came out. The albums Circus and Wild! stand out for me but I thought their ABBA numbers were really well done.

Obviously Erasure are not performing at Download, I believe they are touring with Robbie Williams, but Download is coming up, fast! I am so looking forward to it. Certainly for Avenged Sevenfold without question but it is an amazing line up, after speaking to Swampy earlier this week we have decided we don’t have to really leave the main stage. Volbeat, Bullet for my Valentine, Shinedown, Marilyn Manson, Cradle of Filth, Black Stone Cherry not to mention Guns n Roses and Ozzy… plus many more.

I saw Avenged Sevenfold for the first time at Download when they had released their album Nightmare, quite so time ago. At this time I had not heard many of their albums, many of which are even better than Nightmare, I especially like the album named just Avenged Sevenfold, an absolute masterpiece.

This will be my third time.

The last occasion I went because Avenged Sevenfold and Linkin Park were playing, the first time was because Linkin Park were playing. This was my main reason for going and I am so glad I did, not only did I enjoy these two bands I just mentioned but you get to hear so many different artists, artists that you wouldn’t normally particularly listen to.

That is the total beauty of festivals and live music – you never know what you are going to see next. Whatever your chosen genre, it is completely up to you and remember music is ageless.

Briefly I would like to mention Mike Shinoda’s new music, he has produced a new album – out early summer called Post Traumatic – I have only heard some of his music but want to give it a good listen. It is on my ever increasing ‘To Do List’. The courage this man and his band mates have shown throughout the last few months has been immense.

  Emily – there is Agapanthus trying to grow in that pot

  All three of the bands I am in have been busy practicing, eventually we will have a gig! The rock band needs the most work but all three of us are still enjoying it and it is going to be a while until we even think about gigs.

    We do not normally share each others space EVER

    Happy Gardening and lets hope the weather is kind enough to let us catch up.

      Spring has Sprung.. Not long ago there was snow on the ground but in the last week we saw temperatures sore to 27C.

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Start of Spring..? and Maggie...

Start of Spring..? and Maggie…

So I asked Alexa what the weather was going to be today in the village, she kindly informed me that the temperature was going to be up to 8C. WOW, that is almost tropical from the last 7 + days that we have had. Like much of the UK we had significantly cold weather ‘the beast from the East’ as it has been named, looking back on the few days we had it easy than many but I cannot remember feeling…

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Bye bye January... yippee!

Bye bye January… yippee!

Well the title of this blog has changed so many times as it was meant to go out in January, many times! New Year is signified for me by the garden. When everything else seems really rather hard work the garden is already doing its thing. I went out in the garden (and allotment) earlier today. The sun was out but the wind chill was bringing it down significantly so I was not out there long… enough…

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Christmas with gardens, music and Cats

Well the allotment committee crew have sent out renewal letters – I am surprised not to have a warning as I haven’t been there recently… however although I like having one it’s been a bit of a stretch to get there this year. I’m going to have to think about it. The Allotment is always behind everything else.. family, friends, the garden, cats, music, bands, work, house, shopping, cooking blah. It…

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Galaxy Big Band

As mentioned in an earlier blog I was going to write a blog about the favourite band I am in. I have been a member now for three years! The time has literally flown. I first heard of the band, years and years ago, never ever expected to be a member. My love of Big Band music came from my granddad Reg. My grandad loved playing his Hammond organ, and enjoyed playing big band music, in particular…

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Band’s announcing 2018 tours

So I said I’d never go to Download again – not because of the bands but the portaloos. I’m getting too old to ‘rough it’ I think. The 1st time was amazing but it’s getting on to 10 years ago and I coped. I went with James’ best mate Duaine as he had never been and I loved every band that performed that weekend Darkness, Def Leppard, Linkin Park, bullet for my valentine and Avenge Sevenfold to…

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Pumpkins

This week is when the pumpkins/squashes get harvested at work. I have several different varieties to test out for flavours. I’m a big fan of butternut squash but one variety of Pumpkin has surprised me completely. We have a carving competition so we all grew Pumpkin Polar Bear, which forms beautifully white fruit, which gets quite large – I know I carried it – very heavy! James helped me carve…

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Definitely Autumn

Although I do not enjoy saying goodbye to the summer I do look forward to the autumn colours coming in. I also start to think about what I’ve seen this year and start to make a list, before I forget. Linum, rudbeckia, stock Cinderella, calendula and sunflowers top my list. Marigold Fireball is a new red french type and the flowers go a deeper shade of red as they get older. This will definitely…

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The Party Band

Out of all the bands this is the one I get most concerned about, probably as this is the band that I have been in the longest and it is like a never ending roller-coaster ride. This may sound familiar if you’re in a band, it is a good band, which makes an impressive loud sound, we have played parties, weddings and charity gigs in the past. Currently though and for the last couple of years, gigs…

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Harrogate Flower Show part two

The show was buzzing over in the Flower hall too with showy dahlias, dainty carnations, fascinating fuchsias, beautifully scented roses, perfect gladioli and so much more. Lovely to see so much colour this late in the season. The amazing yellow gladioli came second but I thought it was beautiful, very delicate with that very special colour, most of the dahlias were bigger than my hand stretched…